Titans Talk: A fireside chat with two of IRE’s founders

Hear from two of IRE’s original founders, Len Downie Jr. and Ed DeLaney, talk about our beginnings and their views of investigative journalism today and tomorrow.

Downie and DeLaney will be joined in conversation with longtime IRE member and past board president Deborah Nelson. They'll talk about the obstacles the group overcame to get IRE started, remembering the strife and the laughter, too; whether they thought we’d ever be where we are today; and where they see us going in the future.

When IRE was founded in 1975, Downie was at The Washington Post, fresh from editing the Watergate stories that led to the resignation of President Nixon, DeLaney was a lawyer who shepherded the creation of the new nonprofit IRE and Nelson was a student journalist at Northern Illinois University profoundly influenced by the organization they helped launch. Today, Downie is a professor at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, DeLaney is a Democratic legislator in the Indiana State House of Representatives and Nelson is a professor at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism

This online event, open to all IRE members, is part of IRE's 50th anniversary celebrations in 2025.

Register below to receive the Zoom link to attend this event.